“The Iranian Jewish community is separated from the Zionists. We are with Iranians and Muslims.”
By World Israel News Staff
The Iranian regime has instructed the country’s Jewish community to refrain from celebrating the day after Passover and instead participate in the annual anti-Israel Quds Day demonstration that calls for the destruction of Israel.
“There is a silent pressure and everyone knows their role in this regime and the regime won’t hurt you” if you demonstrate at the Quds Day march, Beni Sabti, an expert on Iran from the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.
“If you don’t demonstrate, you will be harmed,” he added, saying it was a question of survival. He stressed the Iranian Jewish community has to show support for the al-Quds Day demonstration in order to “survive” in the totalitarian Islamic state. He noted that many Iranian Jews are being harmed and avoid greater danger by participating in the al-Quds demonstration.
The annual Quds Day protests call for the destruction of the State of Israel and are also held in Iraq, Lebanon and elsewhere, occurring on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Iran has marked Quds Day since the start of its 1979 Islamic Revolution by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Al-Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem, and the Iranian regime uses the day as an annual opportunity to gather crowds for mass “death to Israel” and “death to America” chants.
The social media Telegram channel for Iran’s Jewish community had a post to its estimated 9,000 members that read: “Please do not go for picnics or enjoyable activities on Quds Day.”
A separate post read: “Invitation to participate in the Quds Day demonstration. According to our holy bible, every Jew has to stand against oppression against human beings. When we are approaching Quds Day, the Jewish community of Iran will participate in demonstrations against the Zionist regime and will declare their disgust with the Zionist policies against human beings. The Iranian Jewish community is separated from the Zionists. We are with Iranians and Muslims.”
Iranian Jews gather at a central synagogue in Tehran, Abrishami, for the Quds Day demonstration. According to Sabti, an estimated 7,000 Jews live in Tehran.
Jews have to be “very, very careful, [and are] always under restrictions,” he said, noting that some even donate money to anti-Israel organizations and mosques.
“The regime sometimes sends IRGC or Basij into synagogues to see if they are talking about Israel or against the Iranian regime.” The reason for sending Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its domestic militia force, the Basij, into synagogues is because Iranian Jews talk about “ancient Israel” and “regime wants to see if they are talking about modern Israel,” said Sabti.